Come Around Sundown
by Kings of Leon
  • Record Label: RCA
  • Release Date: Oct 19, 2010
Metascore
64

Generally favorable reviews - based on 27 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 27
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 27
  3. Negative: 2 out of 27
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  1. The A.V. Club
    Oct 22, 2010
    83
    Kings Of Leon's fifth album, Come Around Sundown, is just as much of a crowd-pleaser as Only By The Night, but the four Followills bring back more of the chasing-a-whim personality of their earlier albums.
  2. Billboard.com
    82
    On Kings of Leon's latest album, Come Around Sundown, the family Followill makes a strong bid to please longtime fans as well as the recently converted.
  3. Rolling Stone
    80
    The gigantic-sounding Come Around Sundown suggests that, Caleb's humble grumblings aside, they are thriving on it.
  5. Uncut
    80
    This time out, the band wants you to have an experience, and that's what you get, on a record that's over the top, wildly inventive and satisfying in the ever-deepening way of landmark longplayers from the last century. [Nov 2010, p.89]
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  6. Q Magazine
    80
    Come Around Sundown is the sound of them trying to wrestle its relationship with fame back under control. On a musical level, they've succeeded--they've scaled back the ambition with out throwing the baby out with the bathwater. [Nov 2010, p.102]
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  7. Clash Music
    80
    Come Around Sundown is the remarkable product of an ambitious supergroup expanding their horizons, and is absolutely worth persevering with.
  8. Los Angeles Times
    75
    With its redemptive sins, Come Around Sundown ends up being a portrait of light and dark worthy of the rock and roll bible.
  9. Spin
    Oct 21, 2010
    70
    The result of all this hemming and hawing is a captivating reminder of how much weirder this band is than its reputation.
  10. Boston Globe
    70
    It confirms that the group's sudden success wasn't overnight, but rather overdue.
  11. musicOMH.com
    70
    Kings Of Leon's newfound pop sensibilities often feel at odds with their southern-rock instincts, and while this may result in fewer immediately recognisable radio hits, it makes for a largely enjoyable batch of surprisingly invigourated tunes from one of American rock's most unlikely mainstays.
  12. BBC Music
    70
    With the bare minimum of innovation on show and nothing approaching the pure pop elation of Sex on Fire, Come Around Sundown will go down as KoL's classic consolidation album.
  13. Entertainment Weekly
    67
    Come Around Sundown's drawling Joshua Tree sprawl, engaging enough on album opener The End and gospel-tinged first single Radioactive, soon grows shopworn.
  14. The Boston Phoenix
    63
    They seem hell-bent on pleasing everyone, and at times they succeed.

Awards & Rankings

24
#24 Most Discussed Album of 2010
89
#89 Most Shared Album of 2010

User Reviews

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User Score
6.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 132 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 88 out of 132
  2. Mixed: 22 out of 132
  3. Negative: 22 out of 132
  1. rfowl009
    Oct 20, 2010
    10
    A stellar followup to their breakout album "Only By Night", Kings of Leon continues delivering rousing anthem rock with a resonant emotionalA stellar followup to their breakout album "Only By Night", Kings of Leon continues delivering rousing anthem rock with a resonant emotional undercurrent. It's great work, and people who protest ought to take note that they're not "pushing the envelope" because they don't have to and that they haven't "sold out" because their sound, while on a grander scale here, still retains the soulful spirit of their first three albums.… Full Review »
  2. BigJ1970
    Oct 21, 2010
    3
    Although this album isn't as bad as the last two, I still feel cheated. Although there are brushes with greatness, KOL doesn't quite commit.Although this album isn't as bad as the last two, I still feel cheated. Although there are brushes with greatness, KOL doesn't quite commit. Almost as if they believe that if they churn out something actually resembling rock that they are "cheapening" their artistic greatness. Ultimately KOL has become a clique, a perfect example of what happens when a great band starts believing their own press.… Full Review »
  3. boozm
    Oct 19, 2010
    1
    This is the sound of a band losing all its credibility, the sound of a band failing to recreate any sense of emotional authenticity that theyThis is the sound of a band losing all its credibility, the sound of a band failing to recreate any sense of emotional authenticity that they once successfully postured. What an insult to the noble notion of rock and roll. What dull rubbish fed blindly to the (mostly British) tone-deaf masses. What filth. With the last album and this one, which is only marginally better, the Kings of Leon have discredited the worth of all their previous work. An awful collection of songs that say nothing, literally nor emotionally. 1 point for not having anything closely resembling 'Sex on Fire'.… Full Review »
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